The HCM City team triumphed at the second Vovinam (traditional Vietnamese martial arts) Open which was wrapped up at Lanh Binh Thang gymnasium in HCM City on July 28.

The team won nine golds and two silvers. The runners-up went to People’s Police with three golds and one silver, and Lam Dong with two golds, three silvers and three bronzes.

Some foreign teams such as French Martial Arts Federation, traditional Russian Martial Arts Federation and French Martial Arts Association also won medals.

The four-day tournament attracted more than 200 martial artists from 21 nations and territories. They competed with 13 domestic teams for 38 sets of medals.

After the event, most of these martial artists will head to the central province of Binh Dinh to partake in the third international Vovinam Festival from August 1-4.

So far, more than 750 athletes and coaches of 70 teams from 30 different countries and territories have registered to join this event, together with 500 athletes and coaches from 30 martial arts teams from provinces and cities across Vietnam.

The Ministry of Education and Training is planning to introduce traditional sports, including the Vietnamese martial art, Vovinam, into schools, said Mr Ngu Duy Anh, Head of the Department of Students’ Affairs under the Ministry.

According to Mr Ngu Duy Anh, Vovinam has become increasingly popular in the world and expected to be one of the events at the Phu Dong National Sports Festival 2012.

With an aim to improve health for pupils in schools and maintain the traditional martial art, the Ministry of Education and Training instructed provincial departments of education and training to work with the Vietnam Vovinam Federation to carry out the program.

Vietnam Vovinam branches and provincial education and training departments will promote the martial art in community and in extracurricular activities, provide training course to gym teachers, and establish Vovinam clubs at schools.

Vovinam, the traditional Vietnamese martial art, will be featured at the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Indonesia next year as a competitive sport for the first time, according to the SEA Sports Council.

Vovinam’s inclusion in the games will help promote the sport, which has gained recognition internationally in recent years, especially after the success of the first World Vovinam Championship in HCM City in July 2009 and at the third Asian Indoor Games last year, the Vietnam Vovinam Federation said.

“The presence of the sport in the SEA Games is a remarkable achievement by the Vietnam Olympics Committee and the Vietnam Vovinam Federation, which have trying to have the sport included in the games for years,” said Vo Danh Hai, World Vovinam Federation (WVVF)’s general secretary.

Vovinam is practised in six countries in the region aside from Vietnam , including Indonesia , Thailand , Singapore, the Philippines , Laos and Cambodia .

“The WVVF and the Vietnamese federation will send their coaches to train vovinam martial artists in countries that do not play the sport. Meanwhile, we will invite coaches and artists to practise in Vietnam,” he said.

“Hopefully, there will be at least nine delegations registering for this year’s SEA Games. It will be a great chance to promote Vietnam’s image to the world.”

Vovinam events will be held in Bali .

The martial art was founded in 1938 in Hanoi by late Grand Master Nguyen Loc.

It is practised in 40 countries and has more than 100,000 practitioners. It is popular in France , Italy and the US .

Following an agreement by chairman of Vietnam ’s Olympic Committee and the World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) Nguyen Danh Thai, general secretary of WVVF Vo Danh Hai visited Jakarta to discuss the introduction of Vovinam with the hosts of the 26 th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

On May 28, Thai and Vietnamese sport delegation also arrived in Jakarta to discuss the upcoming games.

Vovinam is a Vietnamese martial art practised with and without weapons.

It is based on the principle of between hard and soft and includes training of the body as well as of the mind. It uses the forces and reactions of the opponent and at present, it is developing worldwide.